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Scratch
|image = File:ScratchLogo-01.png|imagewidth = 250px|Row 1 title = Paradigm|Row 1 info = Event-driven, block based programming language|Row 2 title = Developer(s)|Row 2 info = MIT Media Lab Scratch Team (program)|Row 3 title = Release Date(s)|Row 3 info = 2002 (test) 2005 (official)|Row 4 title = Typing Discipline|Row 4 info = Dynamic|Row 5 title = Implementation Language|Row 5 info = Squeak|Row 6 title = Website|Row 6 info = scratch.mit.edu}}Scratch 'is a free educational programming language that was developed by MIT Media Lab, in addition, the program by the Scratch Team. Scratch was created to help young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically and work collaboratively. It counts with over 15 million registered users and 22 million shared projects. It is used by students, teachers and parents to easily create interactive stories, animations, games, etc. It provides a stepping stone to the world of computer programming. Users program in Scratch by dragging blocks from the block palette and attaching them to other blocks like a jigsaw puzzle. Structures of multiple blocks are called scripts. This method of programming (building code with blocks) is referred to as "drag-and-drop programming". It can also be used for a range of educational and entertainment constructionist purposes from math and science projects, including simulations and visualizations of experiments, recording lectures with animated presentations, to social sciences animated stories, and interactive art. Scratch is designed to be fun, educational, and easy to learn. It has the tools for creating interactive stories, games, art, simulations, and more, using block-based programming. Scratch even has its own paint editor and sound editor built-in. Origin of name Scratch's name originated from the word Scratching, a technique used by disc jockeys to mix music clips together in creative ways and produce different sound effects by manipulating vinyl records on a turntable. Scratch takes its name from this technique, as it lets users mix together different media (including graphics, sound and other programs) in creative ways. Uses Scratch is used in schools around the world as a means of introducing basic computer programming to children. It is also used outside of schools. Children and even adults gain an understanding of the fundamentals of programming with Scratch and often move on to other programming languages. During their use of Scratch, people can create, remix, and collaboratewith others on Scratch projects. Environment In designing the language, the creators' main priority was to make the language and development environment intuitive and easily learned by children who had no previous programming experience. There is a strong contrast between the powerful multimedia functions and multi-threaded programming style and the rather limited scope of the Scratch programming language. The user interface for the Scratch development environment divides the screen into several panes: on the in the middle is the blocks palette, on the right the scripts area, and on the left the stage and sprite list. The blocks palette has code fragments (called "blocks") that can be dragged onto the scripts area to make programs. To keep the palette from displaying a lot of blocks and for ease if use, it is organized into 10 groups of blocks: motion, looks, sound, pen, control, events, sensing, operators, variables, and more blocks. Philosophy Scratch encourages the sharing, reuse and combination of code. It also gives credit to the participant who built on the original work and to the participant who created the original program. It is part of a research to design new technologies to enhance learning in after-school centers and other informal education settings, and broaden opportunities for youth from under-represented groups who can become designers and inventors. Scratch was iteratively developed based on ongoing interaction with youth and staff at Computer Clubhouses. The use of Scratch at Computer Clubhouses served as a model for other after-school centers demonstrating how informal learning settings can support the development of technological fluency, enabling young people to design and program projects that are meaningful to themselves and their communities. History The MIT Media Lab's Lifelong Kindergarten group, led by Mitchel Resnick, in partnership with the Montreal-based consulting firm, the Playful Invention Company, co-founded by Brian Silverman and Paula Bonta, together developed the first desktop-only version of Scratch in 2003. Its purpose was to aid young people, mainly for ages 8 and up, to learn programming. There is a Scratch editor available online. Motto Scratch's motto is Imagine, Program, Share. This follows the basic principle of creating a Scratch Project. First of all, you think of an idea (imagine), next, you program your idea in Scratch (program), then finally share it with the world (share). Since the release of Scratch 2.0, the motto has been less apparent throughout the website; the front page no longer has the motto but instead a description of what Scratch is. Educational use Scratch was made popular in the UK through Code Clubs. Scratch is used as the introductory language because creation of interesting programs is relatively easy, and skills learnt can be applied to other basic programming languages such as Python and Java. Scratch is not exclusively for creating games. With the provided visuals, programmers can create animated stories, informational texts, and more. There are already many programs which students can use to learn topics in math, history, and even photography. Scratch flexibility allows teachers to create conceptual and visual lessons and science lab assignments, as Scratch is a useful tool to create animations that help visualize difficult concepts such as plant cell mitosis, the water cycle, Galileo Thermometer or Hooke's Law Experiment. Within the social sciences, instructors can create quizzes, games, and tutorials that stimulate the mind and interact with the student. Using Scratch allows young people to understand the logic of programming and how to creatively build and collaborate. Scratch lets students create "meaningful personal as well as educational projects" which gives students a "practical tool" to express themselves after learning to use the language. Harvard University lecturer Dr. David J. Malan prefers using Scratch over commonly used introductory programming languages, such as Java or C, in his introductory computer science course. However, there is a limited benefit in a college level education. Malan switches his course's language to C after the first week. User interface From left to right, in the upper left area of the screen, there is a ''stage area, featuring the results (i.e., animations, turtle graphics, etc., everything either in small or normal size, full-screen also available) and all sprites thumbnails listed in the bottom area. The stage uses x and y coordinates, with 0,0 being the stage center. The stage is 480 pixels wide, and 360 pixels tall, x:240 being the far right, x:-240 being the far left, y:180 being the top, and y:-180 being the bottom. There are many ways to create personal sprites and backgrounds. First, users can draw their own sprite manually with "Paint Editor" provided by Scratch. Second, users can choose a Sprite from the Scratch library that contains default sprite, user's past creations, a picture using a camera, or clip art. With a sprite selected in the bottom-left area of the screen, blocks of commands can be applied to it by dragging them from the Blocks Palette onto the right area of the screen, containing all the scripts associated with the selected sprite. Under the Scripts''tab, all available blocks are listed and categorized as the Motion, Looks, Sound, Pen, Data, Events, Control, Sensing, Operators, and More blocks as shown in the table below. Each can also be individually tested under different conditions and parameters via double-click. Besides the Scripts tab, there are two additional tabs, the Costumes tab and the Sounds tab. An expandable bar at the right is Help area. Next to the Scripts tab, there is the Costumes tab, where users can change the look of the sprite in order to create various effects, including animation. And the last tab is the Sounds tab, where users insert sounds and music to a sprite. In comparison to the previous versions of Scratch, the areas have been rearranged in version 2.0, as previously the blocks palette was in the left area, the selected sprite area and scripts area associated with a selected sprite were in the middle of the screen, and the stage area with sprites thumbnails listed below it were in the right area of the screen. Scratch Wiki The 'Scratch Wiki is a collaboratively-written wiki available for free at https://wiki.scratch.mit.edu, that provides information about the Scratch programming language, its website, history and phenomena surrounding it. The wiki is supported by the Scratch Team, but is primarily written by Scratchers. The Scratch Wiki is a popular source of information for scripts and tutorials and it continues to grow as Scratchers use it as their primary source of information. This could also include advanced articles for Scratchers around the world to build, share and see. On December 6th, 2008, the Scratch Programming Wiki was created by a single user, without the involvement of the Scratch Team. The user later passed on bureaucracy to two other users, and they advertised the wiki in the Miscellaneous section of the Scratch Forums. Although the original articles were about projects and users, more and more people saw it and the wiki steadily grew. Eventually, the Scratch Team saw the wiki, liked the idea, and wanted to advertise it on the Scratch Website, but they had two main concerns: the wiki had advertisements, and there was no way to ascertain that users on the Scratch Wiki were who they were on the website. These were solved when the Scratch Team, along with three other users, moved the entire wiki from its previous domain to a new one, the one it is at now. On the Scratch Wiki, only logged in users may edit, and accounts must be requested. This is to make sure users on the Scratch Wiki are who they are on the website, and to minimize possible vandalism (although it does still occur; this is unavoidable). See Also * Getting Started with Scratch * Scratch Wiki * Scratch 2.0 * Programming Language Category:Scratch